Written Quran

The idea that the Quran was not compiled or put into written form until years after the prophet’s death is entirely false. Even the Hadith literature states that the written Quran existed in written form during the prophet’s life.

According to Hadith, people were prohibited from traveling to hostile territories carrying the Quran. Obviously, this was a written form and not what they had in their chest.

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) forbade the people to travel to a hostile country carrying (copies of) the Qur’an. حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْلَمَةَ، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم نَهَى أَنْ يُسَافَرَ بِالْقُرْآنِ إِلَى أَرْضِ الْعَدُوِّ‏.‏ Sahih al-Bukhari 2990 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2990

Other Hadith state that four men collected the Quran during the lifetime of the prophet.

Narrated Qatada: Anas said, “The Qur’an was collected in the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ) by four (men), all of whom were from the Ansar: Ubai, Mu’adh bin Jabal, Abu Zaid, and Zaid bin Thabit.” I asked Anas, “Who is Abu Zaid?” He said, “One of my uncles.” حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ جَمَعَ الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى عَهْدِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَرْبَعَةٌ، كُلُّهُمْ مِنَ الأَنْصَارِ أُبَىٌّ، وَمُعَاذُ بْنُ جَبَلٍ، وَأَبُو زَيْدٍ، وَزَيْدُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ‏.‏ قُلْتُ لأَنَسِ مَنْ أَبُو زَيْدٍ قَالَ أَحَدُ عُمُومَتِي‏.‏ Sahih al-Bukhari 3810 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3810 See also: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5003, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5004, https://sunnah.com/muslim:2465a